Pyrolysis–capillary gas chromatography–mass spectrometry for the determination of polyvinyl chloride traces in solid environmental samples

A novel method based on pyrolysis–capillary gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (CGC–MS) was developed for the quantitative analysis of polyvinylchloride (PVC) in solid environmental samples like sludge and dust. The samples are extracted and the extract is fractionated by solid-phase extraction (SPE). Possibly interfering biological and frequently occuring synthetic polymers are removed by this clean-up. The final extract is analyzed by pyrolysis–CGC–MS. Selective detection of PVC is performed by using specific markers in the pyrogram. Quantitation is done on naphthalene. Good linearity was obtained in a range from 0.5 to 100 μg applied to the pyrolyser. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) in sludge and dust samples is 10 mg/kg dry mass. A correlation between PVC and phthalates was made for sewage sludge samples.